


Twinkle, Twinkle, Morningstar

by Wynele



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Conspiracy, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Ella might be a little nuts, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Drama, Fluff and Smut, Injury Recovery, Murder, Mystery, NaNoWriMo, No Apricots were harmed in the writing of this story, Pancakes, Smut, Spoilers for all seasons, Watch Lucifer on Netflix
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-08-14 00:05:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16482317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wynele/pseuds/Wynele
Summary: After a teenager is found murdered a few blocks from LUX, Lucifer finds himself in the midsts of a conspiracy that could have dire consequences for his mortal friends.





	1. Chapter One:

**Author's Note:**

> Some may think it's cheating to start NaNoWriMo a few days early, I prefer to think of it as enterprising. Or perhaps even a touch rebellious. Either way, normal rules still apply. I hope to have this finished by the end of the month. Luffles.

Rain poured in rivets down the floor to ceiling windows of the penthouse. Lightning arched in great forks over the city followed quickly with a deafening rumble of thunder. The storm had struck mid-afternoon had grown to such intensity that power had been lost to large swaths of the city. As one of the few buildings that still had power, LUX glowed like a beacon on the horizon. It was only fitting, Chloe supposed, as it was the earthly home of The Lightbringer.

A soft moan escaped her lips as Lucifer gently slipped inside her. Cupping the back of his head, she kissed him softly and bent her leg so that she could rub his hipbone with her knee. His lips feathered down her throat, pausing briefly to suck lightly at her pulse point.  She lifted her hips to meet his and arched her back to give him better access to her breasts. He traced the hollow of her collarbone with the tip of his tongue before dipping lower to press a soft kiss to the top of her left breast. Lucifer insisted he adored the whole of her cleavage, but it was clear her left breast was his far and above favorite.

Gasping a sigh, she smiled faintly and clenched delicately around him. “Lucifer,” she gasped, smothering a moan against his lips when he ever so slightly adjusted the angle of his hips.

He wasn’t any larger than her previous partners, but thicker and somehow able to touch her in places no one had managed before. Ribbons of pleasure wound around her limbs, lacing between her toes as he quickened his pace. Not much and not fast, but just enough that an audible smack of skin on skin echoed around them.

Lightning flashed outside the windows, brightening the penthouse to near day, and cast stark shadows along the bedroom walls. Lucifer kissed her fully, tongue slipping between her lips to graze the roof of her mouth. He pushed himself up on one elbow and slid his free hand down her side to her hip.

Her hands trailed down his back to linger beneath his shoulder blades where his muscles bunched and curled. There, beating desperate to break free, were pure white wings. She gripped him tightly, feeling them ripple beneath her hands. He was an angel more than he was the devil, though he would never admit that to anyone, least of all himself.

He withdrew slowly, pulling back most of his length, and then slipped back deep inside, nestling himself in the cradle of her body. Chloe looped a leg over him, tangling their limbs together to prevent him from moving any further away. She nibbled at the corner of his jaw, kissing a path up the side of his face, and licked the perspiration from his temple with a quick flick of her tongue.

Her arms encircled his neck and she tugged him closer, shivering at his warm breath on her cheek. The fit of their bodies was so snug that she could almost feel every ridge, every pulse of him. Throwing her head back against the pillows, she slowly squeezed him again, trying to push him over the edge.

Lucifer trembled in her arms, his thrusts growing erratic, as he plunged hard and deep inside her as if he meant to burrow through her. Her fingers dug into his back, hard enough to leave marks, as the first feathers of his wings grazed her knuckles. Disappointment wandered through her when he sucked in a breath and pulled back his wings before they could fully unfurl.

They heighten sensations for her, for both of them, and Lucifer, forever the torturer,  wanted to prolong things a little longer. His eyes fluttered shut as he began to move again, slow and steady, with just enough force to lift her slightly from the mattress. She began to moan softly, her breath coming in fevered pants.

He slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her breasts to his waiting mouth. Chloe worried her hands into her hair and arched her back like a bow, crying out as each gliding thrust inside her was magnified by the heated suction at her nipple.

Chloe’s ribs ached as she struggled to breath. The scent of him, of them, flooded her senses as starbursts formed in her vision. Outside, the thunder rumbled, shaking the windows of the penthouse, but she ignored it. Lucifer kissed her neck, raking her skin with his teeth, and nuzzled at her cheek as their movements became more impatient. He reached between them to touch her, the soft teasing caress was enough to make her cry out of the first of the tremors washed over her.

Her arms and legs locked around him, drawing him closer to her, as an almost painful pleasure wound through her, binding them together with more than just their bodies. The sight and feel of her climax around him made him throb, heavy and thick, inside her.

Her name tumbled from his lips as their eyes met. His words lost beneath a sudden roll of thunder. The storm raging outside was gaining in strength, but neither could bring themselves to care. He jerked, his back muscles rippling as he drove himself into her. Her thighs tightened, the heels of her feet digging into the small of his back as he surrendered and simply gave in to instinct.

Chloe made a low mewling sound and contracted around him, wrenching his orgasm from him in the rippling embrace of her body. Lucifer moaned something that was almost words and tore his mouth from hers to bury his face in the crook of her shoulder. He felt himself swell and spill within her in a hot flood that mingled around him. She clutched the back of his head as he rocked desperately against her and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

They lay there silent and still as the last of the spasms ebbed from their limbs. Chloe rolled her head sideways to look out the window. The rain had turned from rivets to a sheet, pouring down the plate glass like a waterfall.

Quietly, Lucifer rolled over onto his back and tucked her into his side. His hand trailed down her ribs, tracing featherlight patterns with the pads of his fingers. He felt her yawn against his skin, nuzzling at him as she began to doze.

Lightning flashed overhead once more, turning night into day.

“One Mississippi,” Chloe murmured, yawning as she traced one of his nipples with her pinky finger. “Two—”

Thunder boomed overhead, loud and strong enough to knock his treasured mermaid clown painting from the wall. While she liked the painting well enough, it ran completely contrary to his tastes. Refined is what he called them. Snooty was what they were. Either way, he had been remarkably evasive on the painting’s origins. She only knew that it was priceless—somehow—or as he put it, beyond any value she could fathom.

“Snooty,” she snickered to herself and smirked when he raised his brows at her. “Dork.”

A low rolling chuckle rumbled in his chest and he kissed her suddenly, passionately. Her breasts swelled against him as she moaned and arched her back. Then, with a mischievous glint in her eye, she grinned before flinging a leg over his belly. She pulled herself up and top of him, her knees planted on either side of his hips.

She swallowed, breathing out a low moan, and tilted her head back as he smoothed his palms up her abdomen to gently cup her breasts. Her eyes drifted shut when she found him, already warm and ready, prodding at her backside. Refractory periods were apparently the concerns of lesser creatures.  

“Why, hello, Detective,” Lucifer purred and gave her breasts a gentle squeeze, his thumbs ghosting over her nipples. “I believe I owe you pancakes—"

His words ended in a moaning gasp as Chloe bucked her hips, taking him back into her with a single stroke. She bit her lip as she began to ride him. Slow and careful, at first, her body swaying with each rock of her hips. Planting her hands his chest, she pushed herself up, and then lowered herself, sinking more fully onto him.

Lucifer lifted his head to kiss her and nipped at his bottom lip before sucking it into her mouth. She began to move faster, harder, her body demanding more. He clamped one hand over her hip, holding her fast, while he slid the other across his abdomen to where their bodies joined and gently pressed into her with a knuckle.

Shivering, she tightened around him and watched as he fell back among the pillows. Eyes soft and lips parted, he watched her ride him. She threw back her head, her long hair tickling his thighs, and moaned a low, almost feral sound to the ceiling.

He watched a tiny bead of sweat streak down her breastbone to land in an almost audible plop on his stomach. Chloe cried out when he gripped her hips firmly to thrust up inside her as she sank down onto him. Then, he replaced his knuckle with his thumb and began with rub feathery light half-circles against her flesh.

A breathless gasp escaped her as she fell forward and cover his lips with a sloppy, open mouth kiss. Her body quivered as she teetered ever closer to the edge. She lifted her head just enough to meet his eyes. “How long does your generator last?”

Lucifer smirked, a suggestive comment lingering on the tip of his tongue. He locked his arms around her middle and rolled with her, flipping her onto her back. His mouth found her earlobe, prodding at her earring with the tip of his tongue. With a groan, he withdrew and then thrust deep into her, moaning softly at the perfect fit of their bodies.

“I have no idea,” Lucifer groaned into her mouth. His hands roamed her body, touching and caressing every inch of her flesh.

Chloe rocked her hips in response, trying to find their earlier rhythm. He planted a hand beside her head and lifted himself before plunging into her once more. His thrusts were hard and deep, her name falling her lips as she bucked and writhed beneath him.

He caught her wrist in mid-flail and pressed an open mouth kiss to the center of her palm. His moments calmed as he once again withdrew from her body only to slip back inside with aching slowness.

Chloe choked back a cry, her entire body tightening around the tension pooling low in her belly. She felt strange, she realized. Exhausted, but at the same time energized, she kissed him lightly, clenching and rocking as the sensation continued to grow.

“We should, we should,” she gasped as he began to quicken his pace. His movements were hard and demanding, but not rough or jarring. “We should…Oh—”

Her entire body tensed as if she were suddenly struck by lightning, sending arches of pleasure to her limbs. Muscles bunching and curling, she gripped him only dimly aware of his hips moving frantically against hers.

Her climax swelled and rolled, tumbling into another, and Lucifer rode it with her, into his own. Then he flexed his shoulders, unfurling his wings, and rolled so that he could draw her into his feathery embrace. 

“I made a raspberry compote,” he mumbled, eyes fluttering shut as he tangled his fingers into the ends of her hair, “and homemade whip cream for the pancakes. I think there is some maple syrup in there as well.”

A soft sigh escaped Chloe’s lips as she nodded without opening her eyes. She slipped her hand into his wings, the pure white feather slipping between her fingers, before pulling it tighter around her. After a long moment, Chloe jerked, realizing she had fallen asleep. Nuzzling at his side, kissed him lightly above his heart and laid her cheek against his chest. “I need a nap first and then we can…”

His breath left him in a peaceful sigh and limbs went slack even as he curled himself around her.  
  
“Lucifer?” she whispered, cracking an eye open. He was asleep, she realized with a rush of pride.

Outside the storm continued to rage, adding wind and hail to the pouring rain. Chloe pushed up on one elbow to glance at the alarm clock perched on the nightstand. It was one of the many things of hers that had found residence in his penthouse. The same was true with her own apartment. Half her closet space had been taken up with his clothes.

“Hey,” she whispered as she snuggled deep into his wings. His eyes opened just enough that she could see a line of shiny black under his lashes. He pressed his lips to hers in a close approximation of a kiss and mumbled something incoherent into her mouth.

Chloe smiled into a yawn as Lucifer looped his arms around her middle and pulled her into his chest as if she were his favorite pillow. “Hey,” she murmured again, her lips ghosting down the side of his face. “Let’s move in together.”

Lucifer huffed in protest, his brow crinkling as he struggled closer to wakefulness. “Shh, go back to sleep,” Chloe whispered, cupping his cheek so that she could trace his eyebrow with her thumb.

She nuzzled him until he finally settled back down to sleep, and then reached down to pull the blankets over them. Smiling tiredly, she snuggled against his side and breathed a happy sigh as she nodded off to sleep.

********

Several blocks away, a young man, barely out of his teens, ran through the storm toward the only building in the neighborhood that still had power. He paused on a corner and hugged the stop sign as he tried to catch his breath. The rain continued to pour down on him, soaking through his thin jacket.

He fished into the back pocket of his worn jeans and pulled out his phone. Eyes wary and searching, he looked around as he quickly dialed.

“Pick up, Alex, pick up,” he chanted, bouncing on the balls of his feet in a near panic. As the phone continued to ring, his eyes darted around the area searching for any sign of his pursuer.  He gasped, nearly dropping the phone when he heard Alex’s voice on the other end. “Thank God, Alex!” he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut as he took a big gulp of air. “It’s me, Jacob.”

“…I can’t come to the phone right now, but if you leave your name and number I’ll get back to you as soon as possible,” said Alex’s prerecorded voice on the other end.

“Damn it! Fuck!” Jacob cursed, nearly tossing the phone away. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tensed, trembling for a moment, and then breathed out a grunting sigh. “Alex, it’s Jacob. I just want to say I’m sorry, for everything.  And…and…” He looked up at the building glowing on the horizon like a beacon or lighthouse.

“I’m headed to that club Bethany’s always talking about, uh, LUX, I think, I—”

Suddenly lightning flashed overhead, followed by a sound almost like thunder. Jacob stumbled as something struck him square in the back. He sagged against the sign before pushing away and stumbled down the flooded street towards LUX. Footsteps echoed behind him, growing closer with every second.

Blood bubbled passed his lips, his vision blurring as he stumbled into a long alleyway. From here, he had a direct path to LUX, even if the club was blocks away. He jerked, lumbering forward, only to stumble over something in the alley.

Catching himself on the wall, he managed to pull himself from the alley and step out onto the flooded street. LUX glowed before him, still so far away. He managed another two full steps before a second shot rang out, this time striking him in the hip.

Jacob fell forward, face first into the flood sewer drain. Bubbles formed on the surface of the water as it began to pinken with his blood. Behind him at the edge of the alley, a middle-aged man holstered his weapon and strode forward. He kneeled at Jacob’s side, watching with a detached fascination as if wondering if the young man would bleed out before he drowned.

After a long moment, he took Jacob’s cell phone from his back pocket and casually walked away

 


	2. Chapter Two

Lucifer awoke to the smell of pancakes and the whisper touch of lips, pressing light, but insistent kisses down the length of his face. He cracked an eye open slowly to see Chloe smiling down at him.

“Morning you,” she murmured against his lips, and then sat down on the edge of the bed. She was wearing the gingham blouse he had bought her a few months ago and the jeans from the night before. “I made pancakes, so hurry and get up so we can eat before I have to go.”

“Go?” Lucifer protested and propped himself up on his elbow, frowning as he glanced briefly out the window. It was still pouring. “Where? It’s Sunday.”

Pressing her lips together into a firm line, Chloe played with the corner of the duvet for a moment before sighing and shaking her head in disappointment. “I know.” She reached up to cup his cheek before leaning forward to nip gently at his bottom lip. "I got a text this morning. The storm has knocked out power through most of the city, so they’re calling everyone in to lend a hand.”

Lucifer frowned, nodding briefly, before looping an arm around her middle. He pulled her into his lap and shifted her weight until she was straddling him with her knees on either side of his hips. Fighting back a smile, she braced her hands against his shoulders and kissed him again. Her tongue slipped between his slightly parted lips to flick over the ridges on the roof of his mouth.

“We don’t have time for your version of a quickie,” she teased, breath hitching as his hands slid beneath her shirt to smooth up her spine. His palms cupped her shoulder blades, fingertips slipping just beneath the straps of her bra.

Chloe squirmed on his lap, the fabric of her jeans rubbing against her with delicious friction. He smirked, and seeming to sense his effect on her, pulled her forward so that he could nibble at the corner of her jaw. Her nipples hardened as they rubbed against the fabric of her bra, sending shocks of pleasure low in her belly. “It’s just for a couple of hours,” she gasped, arching her back so that her breasts were almost level with his waiting mouth.

He nipped at the triangle of flesh beneath her collarbone and above the third button of her blouse. “Do you need me to come along?” he rumbled against her flesh and dipped his tongue into her cleavage.

Chloe moaned softly, her eyes fluttering shut as she sat back on his thighs. She felt his hand trail over her ribcage to gently cup her breast while the other ticked down her fly.

“Not unless you can direct traffic,” she murmured huskily and glanced sideways at the cheap alarm clock still perched on the nightstand. She told the lieutenant she'd be there within the hour. "Lucifer," she murmured, shallow pants escaping her lips as he slowly lowered her zipper and began to trace the waistband of her panties. "I have to go."

Lucifer made a soft sound, somewhere between a moan and whine, and slowly withdrew his hand. Her breath hitched as he slowly rezipped her pants. The simple movement was strangely more erotic than anything else he had done with his hands. Hazily, she smiled at him, her eyes wide and hazy with desire. She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him to her, and kissed him fully on the mouth. Her entire body was tingling, her skin large and aching. Almost of its own accord, her hand slipped beneath the sheets to circle his length. Gently, she pushed back his foreskin with her thumb, spreading the moisture gathered at the tip. A gasp escaped his lips as he warmed and thickened in her hand, his hips rocking slightly to buck against her palm.

She shifted, pulling herself up so that she was standing on her knees still straddling him. Tantalizingly slow, she unbuttoned her jeans and unzipped her fly before falling back onto his outstretched legs. Her head lolled sideways to glance at the time, and then flashed him a challenging smile, her eyes wide and bleary with desire. “You have eight minutes.”

A wicked grin curled at his lips as moved his legs from beneath her. As he crawled forward, over her, he ran a hand up her body and kissed her soundly, before gripping her waistband. She lifted her hips as he yanked down her jeans with one hand, and then kicked them away from her body.

He hooked his pinky finger into her panties and slowly down her hips. Licking her lips, Chloe rubbed the back of her head against the duvet and then rolled over onto her belly. Lucifer pushed her blouse up to press a kiss just below her shoulder blades, and the helped her rise on all fours.

One hand resting lightly on her hip, he moved behind her and gripped his shaft with his free hand. He shifted himself forward, rubbing himself over her gleaming center. She was so wet and ready, so perfect. He heard her sigh as he guided himself in her. He smoothed a hand down her spine, his fingers fisting into the fabric of her blouse. Chloe braced herself on her elbows, her ass slightly raised, and bucked her hips roughly against his. Lucifer bit back a moan, and then, began to move. He rode her hard and fast, the wet sound of skin on skin echoing throughout the penthouse. Chloe rolled her hips back into his in kind, tearing little moans and cries from his throat as she clenched and squeezed around him.

Minutes ticked by, each quicker than the last. He was so close. Suddenly, Chloe cried out, hot and needy, and took a deep gulp of air. He thrust hard and deep inside her and then stilled as a desperate shuddering rocked her body. Looping a hand around her middle, he began to move again, moaning softly as she spasmed and contracted around him. After a moment, she began to roll her hips back into his, clipped pants and moans falling from her lips.

He jerked, pleasure spiraling through his limbs, as he arched his back and spilled deeply inside her. Choking out a gasp, he half collapsed on Chloe, falling with her as she lowered herself to pillow her head against her arms. She smiled at him over her shoulder, sighing at the last of her own orgasm ebbed from her limbs. “You can do quickies.”

Chuckling, he pressed a quick kiss to her backside and then crawled up the bed to lay beside her. He gathered her against her chest before glancing at the alarm clock. “Minutes to spare, even.” He frowned, wrinkling his nose. “I never thought I’d actually be proud being a minute man.”

Chloe pressed her lips together to keep from smiling and shook her head. She kissed him gently and then uttered a grumpy whine. “I don’t want to go in.”

“Play hooky, Detective,” he purred, his voice dripping with temptation. “We’ll have pancakes—”

As if on cue, Chloe’s phone rang, causing her to groan and burrow deeper into Lucifer’s chest. “That’s probably the Lieutenant.”  

Lucifer reached behind and opened the drawer of the nightstand to retrieve her phone. He handed it to Chloe and laid on his side atop the blankets, crossing his legs at the ankle.

“Decker,” Chloe answered crisply, shivering slightly as Lucifer ran his index finger up her leg. Eyes widening, she goggled at him and glared when he shot her a bemused look. “Yes, I was held up a bit, but I’m on my way…”

 

Sitting up, she clutched both hands on her phone and hunched her back she strained to listen. “I can barely hear you…” She bobbed her head, eyes narrowing into a squint. “Yeah, I know the area. I can be there within the hour. No problem, Lieutenant. You’re welcome”

She hung up the phone and clasped it loosely in her hands. “That was Lieutenant Weiss,” she carefully as if she wasn’t quite sure how he would react. “Not from our precinct, we’re all pitching in together because of the storm.” 

Lucifer perked up at that, a wide Cheshire cat grin splitting his face. “Oh,” he purred, nearly leaping from the bed to stroll into the adjoining bathroom. “A reprieve from traffic duty, is it?”

“Yeah,” Chloe mouthed as she looked down at her rumpled blouse. Sighing she realized she’d have to change before she went to the crime scene, but the floaty feeling in her limbs refused to call it a downside. “We have a case.”

********

The rain had slowed to an icy gray drizzle by the time they reached the crime scene. Lucifer held her a moment longer than necessary before setting down on a relatively dry patch of sidewalk. With a quick jerk of his shoulders, his wings folded in on themselves and disappeared.

Chloe fought a smile and huffed, shaking her head. “They’re going to wonder how I got here without a car.”

“It’s your day off,” Lucifer reminded her and tipped his head back to look around the narrow alley. The murder had occurred less than two blocks from LUX, practically in his own backyard. There would be, pardon the pun, hell to pay. He grinned, turning the old familiar charm. “They’re lucky you’re wearing pants.”

Chloe reached out and ran the back of her hand down his shirt. After a moment, she exhaled and looked him in the eye.

“Are you okay?” she asked, rubbing his stomach with her knuckles. It was something she often did to Trixie to calm her when she was upset. Interestingly enough, it also worked on the devil. “I know how much you care about this area.”

“I’m fine, Detective,” Lucifer murmured with a sigh, but there was glare in his eyes that suggested otherwise. “I’d be better if knew the location of my Brioni.”  

Chloe narrowed her eyes to a squint and squared her jaw before poking him in the bellybutton. “Is that the red one?”

“Crimson,” Lucifer corrected with a small tut in his voice, then frowned and tilted his head sideways as if straining to hear something.  “I remember wearing it to that dinner party at your mother’s and…” he made a face and held up his hands in a shrug.

A sigh escaped Chloe’s lips as she shook her head. “It’s in my closet with about half of your other clothes,” she informed, her nose wrinkling as she fought back a smile. “Remember Trix had that stomach bug and you stayed to sit up with her?”

Lucifer looked absolutely scandalized and brought a hand to rest over his heart. “Nonsense! I stayed to binge watch _Legends of the Rose_ and the promise of post-coitus pancakes,” he insisted, but clearly only fooling himself, and then sighed mournfully. “Alas, I was denied on both accounts.”

Chloe choked a little, eyes widening in disbelief, but before she could answer, a growing and insistent ticking sound filled the alleyway. She put her hand on Lucifer’s arm and shoved him behind her as she turned in the direction of the noise.

“Oh, you guys are so freakin’ adorable!” Ella gushed as she rounded the corner. She barreled down the alley wielding some sort of metal rod with a long cord attached to a device at her hip and then pounced Lucifer with an almost maniacal glee.

“Hold still,” she snapped and grabbed at his shirtsleeve when it looked like he was about to bolt. Lucifer obeyed, and then some, giving her his best impression of a department store mannequin.

Ella waved the wand over Lucifer, frowning and adjusting a dial on the device. The devil made a sound and watched with curious amusement as she frowned and twisted one of the knobs on the device.

“Drat,” she said after a moment and slung the rod into the makeshift holster at her hip. “Back to the drawing board. Anyway, the crime scene is about a hundred yards or so back the other way.”

“Wait second,” Chloe said, grimacing just enough to reveal her bottom row of teeth and pointed at the device at Ella’s hip. “Why do you have a Geiger counter?”

Ella’s expression brightened, her eyes widening to saucers as she bounced back on her heels. Her entire form was suddenly engulfed with nervous, giddy energy.

“It used to be a Geiger counter until I modified it with some parts I scavenged from an old microwave,” she corrected and yanked the rod from its holster, so Chloe could have a better look. “Now, it’s an angel detector!”

“An angel detector,” Chloe repeated, nodding her head and gave the lab technician a healthy dose of side eye. “You built an angel detector.”

“Dude,” Ella muttered, opening and closing her mouth as she stared at Chloe in near incredulity. “If he really did light the stars—”

“I did,” Lucifer chirped with a sort of smug bemusement. “I also created mathematics, music, and inadvertently helped invent mayonnaise.” He dropped his voice to explain as an almost aside. “I found myself in lovely company without a single drop of lube, you see—”

“O-kay,” Chloe said hastily, eyes bulging as her mouth opened and then closed in disbelief. Even after three years dating he still sometimes managed to fluster her. It was adorable, especially when he shot her that innocent look that made her want to strangle him.

“I know. I know you’re probably thinking,” Ella babbled as she ran the wand over Chloe. Shrugging, she lowered the rod to Chloe’s belly, and then dipped lower, lingering a bit longer than necessary on her lady parts. When the ticks didn’t increase, she sighed and returned the rod to her belt. “The big guy has his mysteries and I should trust Him, but the hell with that. I’m totally gonna science the crap out of the divine.”

“Mm,” Chloe hummed, through her barely parted lips, her eyes bulging just slightly. Part of her wondered, almost guilty if Ella had ever truly recovered from the revelation that Lucifer was, indeed, the devil. The rest of her, however, was almost completely certain that this level of crazy was just a facet of the woman’s already peculiar personality. “No, I’m not thinking that, at all.”

“Well, I am,” Lucifer fussed and eyed the device at Ella’s hip, waving his hand in distaste. “Well, not the whole science your way through my father’s creation bits.  Good on you and all that. No, I’m more perplexed as to why you believe I may be radioactive.”

“Because stars are huge fusion reactors, dude,” Ella drew out slowly as if she were speaking to a child. “And since you lit them, it means you have some sort of large-scale nuclear fusion ability. Or can created proton-proton chains, somehow.”

“And where there is nuclear fusion, there is radiation,” Lucifer said, finishing Ella’s thought, and shrugged. “I suppose.”

“It’d help if I could get a reading while you did it,” she said mournfully, an obvious hint in her voice. “But ya’know.”

“Right,” Chloe breathed and flung her arms forward before clasping her hands together. “Crime scene?”

“Oh, right!” Ella began as she walked to the end of the alley. “You actually picked a good spot to land. It’s out of sight and super close.”

Chloe and Lucifer followed Ella out to the street and stepped out onto the curb. Ankle deep water and muck-filled the gutters to overflowing as the rain continued to fall in an ever-present drizzle. A utility truck was parked across the street with a lineman busy at work trying to repair a transformer destroyed by the worst of the storm. The street itself was dotted with a row of small boutiques with a bakery on the corner that served the best empanadas in the city.

Ella started up at the sky for a brief moment, and then slid her gaze sideways to Lucifer, a curious look on her face. “So…is this storm anything like the flood?”

“No, there aren’t nearly enough woodworking projects laying about,” Lucifer muttered distractedly and then broke from the group to trot across the street to the nearby bookstore.  Frowning, he cupped his hands around his eyes and peered into the large plate glass window.

Chloe blew out a breath and looked briefly up to the sky before glancing over at Ella. The lab tech shrugged and turned a knob on the device at her hip. It ticked a few times with an even rhythm. Chloe rolled her eyes, and then trotted off after Lucifer, shaking her head.

When Chloe came within a foot of him, Lucifer turned around and gave her his best forced smile. “Ah, apologies, Detective,” he chirped and stepped away from the shop. “I believe we have a crime scene, miscreants to punish and all that.”

Chloe regarded him archly and crossed her arms over her chest, staring him down. “uh huh.”

Lucifer smiled tightly and clasped his hands at the wrist, tilting his head toward the bookstore sign. “It’s probably just a coincidence.

Shaking her head, Chloe squinted as she stared up at the sign. Like most signs in the area, it was made of plexiglass with a thick metal frame. It was the shape of a stylized book with a metal quill dangling from a broken chain at the bottom. Just above the quill was a smudge of graffiti. Something that wasn’t particularly unusual for the city, but strange considering how high up the sign was from the street.

“Imaginaerum,” Chloe read half to herself and shook her head. Once upon a time, she could dismiss this sort of thing as Lucifer being Lucifer. Now, she no longer dared. “So, what up?”

“Only the best band ever!” Ella bounced between ahead of Chloe and took a turn peering into the window. “Man, I wish it were open.”

“Yes, well,” Lucifer said, brushing passed both women. “I do believe we have a crime scene.”

He hurried down the street, his longer stride allowing him to easily outpace both Chloe and Ella. The bookstore had been there for years before he arrived in Los Angeles. He had been in the store enough times to know the owner as well as her wife. They were a normal, if a bit eccentric, couple with a daughter away at university. Nothing to explain what he saw on that sign.  

Behind him, Chloe and Ella caught up to him just as he arrived at the crime scene. Feigning complete nonchalance, he ducked beneath the police tape and held up until both women passed beneath. Chloe snagged his elbow as Ella continued on to meet with the medical examiner already on duty.

Lucifer covered her hand with his own as he glanced briefly back at the sign a few yards away. He gestured for silence with his free hand. “What did you see on the sign?”

“Just some graffiti and some storm damaged.” She pressed her lips together and stood on tiptoe, straining to get a better look at the sign. Seeing nothing she turned back to him. “What did you see?”

Blowing out a breath, he managed a tight smile before brushing his wet hair away from his forehead. It was still raining, something he had all but forgotten about once he saw the writing.

“It’s not graffiti, Detective,” Lucifer said, quietly. His eyes darted sideways, mindful of his surroundings. He looked a bit puzzled, but also relieved. It was almost as if he had been given an acceptable resolution to bad news. “Well, it is, I suppose. But it's written in the language of angels. No human can decipher it. Not even you, it seems.”

Chloe sputtered a bit, opening and closing her mouth before she brought her hand to the middle of her chest. “So, one of your brothers or sisters is nearby? Any idea which one?”

“One of my siblings is always around, it seems.” Lucifer fussed with his cufflinks for a moment but paused when a happy smile stretched across Chloe’s face. “What?”

Chloe beamed at Lucifer, shaking her head, before giving him a fond pat on the arm. She grew serious as they began to walk toward the blue tarp covering the victim. Lucifer saddled up to her, ever present at her side, an expectant look pulling at his brows.

She goggled her eyes at him, a teasing smile curling at her lips. “There was a time you would’ve just blurted all that out.”

Lucifer paused in mid-step, frowning and wrinkling his nose as if she had called him a bad name. “Ah, well, I have grown aware that some of my actions may reflect poorly on you,” he began a bit standoffishly, and then glanced over to the crowd of officers gathered around the crime scene. “Especially to those unaware of my true nature, so I am endeavoring the limit them as much as possible.”

Chloe made a low, happy sound in the back of her throat, her hand twitching at her side as she resisted the urge to loop her arm with his. He had come so far since they first met. Instead, she ran the back of her knuckles down his arm and smiled warmly up at him. “We solve this, and you’re getting all the pancakes you want.”

Lucifer beamed, his come-hither stare peering out of a mask of pure glee. “Oh, indeed?”

Sensing eyes upon them, she bobbed her head and pressed her lips together to fight back a smile. The smile faded, inch by inch, but didn’t quite leave her eyes, as her expression smoothed into stern, professional lines. She turned and walked, spine straight to were Ella spoke with the other forensic scientist on duty.

“What do we got?” Chloe asked briskly and dropped to a squat near the body. She carefully pulled back the tarp to reveal the face of a young man. He was a teenager really, probably not much older than Trixie, with fair skin and golden hair curling against his cheek. Shaking her head, she covered him back up, almost as if she were tucking him into bed, and rose to her feet. "Damn."

“He was a child,” Lucifer murmured, flames licking at the pupils of his dark eyes. Few things infuriated the devil more than the abuse of children.

“Yeah,” Ella said mournfully, chewing on her bottom lip as she skimmed quickly skimmed the file. “Uh, Jacob Gladwin, age nineteen. Multiple causes of death.”

“Most likely?” Chloe asked, doing a quick look around of the area. She had driven through this neighborhood for years but had never stopped to really look at it for now. It had a strange small town feel despite being in the heart of Hollywood.

“Well, he has multiple gunshot wounds,” Ella said as she kneeled to pull the tarp back. She leaned forward just enough to shelter Jacob from the rain. “But he was found face down in the gutter, so, Rodney, the other lab tech, thinks he may have drowned.”  She shook her head in disbelief and looked pleadingly at Lucifer. “Man, who would do something like this to a kid?”

“You don’t want the answer to that, Ms. Lopez.”

Lucifer turned in place, his eyes widening slightly when he realized that there was a clear line of to LUX from where Jacob was killed. “He was headed to LUX.”

“It’s possible but unlikely. He's underage. The bouncers would've never let him through,” answered a plainclothes officer as he strode onto the scene. He stepped close enough to the small group encompass them all beneath his large umbrella. He was an older man, easily pushing sixty, but had the trim build of a much younger man. “Oh, sorry, I’m Detective Warren Mitchel, but feel free to call me Mitch.”

Chloe smile and bobbed her head as she took his outstretched hand. “Detective Chloe Decker and my associate Mister Morningstar.”

“I’m well acquainted with Mister Morningstar,” Mitch with a grinning pulling at the corners of his goatee. “Well, more his amazingly diligent bouncers.” His eyes twinkled with gratitude as he gave Lucifer a quick nod. “I’m Bethany’s dad.”

Lucifer mouthed an “Ah,” eyebrows lifting to his hairline. “Ordinarily, I would be flattered that someone would go to such lengths to bask in my presence—”

Chloe snorted, rolling her eyes to the sky, but Lucifer ignored her.

“And I will be in a few years, but for now she remains a minor.”

“I appreciate that, a lot. Bethany’s a good girl, but she’s sixteen, and, well, ya’know,” Mitch said with a knowing grimace, but then sobered when he glanced down at the body. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “Anyway, sorry to cut this short, but Lieutenant Weiss said I’m to turn this all over to you once you arrive. So, it’s your baby.”

Chloe took the card from Mitch and bobbed her head in a nod. “Thanks, I’ll need your prelims from forensics and from any officers you have canvasing the area.”

Mitch grunted an affirmation and jerked his head to the forensic technician from earlier. “I’ve already told Rodney to give you anything you need and if you need to contact me, feel free.”

He took a step back, pulling back his umbrella, and strode away in the same direction he came. Chloe watched him disappear and then turned to look at Lux in the distance. Underage or not, it made sense for Jacob Gladwin to head to LUX. Not only was it close, but the club was also the only building with power in the area. If he needed to get out of the storm or was fleeing from someone, it was the obvious choice. 

She glanced over to Lucifer who seemed more than a little distracted. Discreetly, she moved to his side, drawing close enough so they hopefully would not be overheard.  “Hey, are you okay?”

His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I’m fine, detective,” he said, glancing over his shoulder back at the bookstore. “It’s… I don’t know and that worries me.”

Chloe frowned and followed Lucifer’s eyes to bookstore sign. Without warning, excitement colored ever so slightly with the sharp edge of wariness washed over her. Goosebumps shivered down her spine that had nothing to do with the chilling rain. “What’s the sign say?”

Lucifer took off his suit coat and draped it over her head and shoulders like some sort of makeshift parka. He inhaled through his nostrils as he fastened the button beneath her chin. “Haven.”


	3. Chapter Three

Hours later, Chloe sat at the precinct and sighed for the fifteen time at her computer monitor. Although the storm had once again gained in strength, sending torrents of rain down upon the city, power had tentatively been restored. The lights still flickered, and brownouts occurred almost every hour, but normalcy had slowly begun to drift over Los Angeles.

A normalcy she realized was somewhat overrated as she stared at her monitor at Jacob Gladwin’s mugshot. It was his sole arrest, no conviction, for shoplifting a sandwich from a convenience store. He had an abusive father, a dead mother, and wide pleading eyes set in a cherubic face. Beyond that, there was nothing to explain how he had wound up shot twice and drowned in a gutter.

Sensing she was being watched, Chloe looked up to see Ella hovering at the corner of her desk. “You got something for me?”

Caught, Ella uttered a tiny squeak and jumped, smashing the file folder she carried against her chest.  

“Sorry, my bad,” she stammered as she pried the file out of her own arms and handed it Chloe. “I was just noticing how much you glow lately. Well, not glow-glow, but you seem… It’s like you have this light in you now, you know?”

Chloe made a sound like a cough and choked out a laugh. Then she leaned forward, tilting her head to look sideways at Ella down the length of her nose. “Well,” she began in low, exaggerated whisper. “I am sleeping with The Lightbringer.”

“Oh, yeah,” Ella gasped, her voice dropping into a whisper. “I mean, does he ever, ya know, while…”

Suddenly, the lights flickered, followed by a deafening crack of thunder.

“Whoa,” Ella breathed, eyes widening as she craned her neck back to look out the windows above the stairs. Rain poured down the panes in a single sheet, entirely blocking the view to the outside. “I’m so going to stop thinking about angel sex now.”

“So much for it letting up,” Chloe murmured wryly, her eyes flicking back and forth between the windows. “I’m going to clear it with Dan, but Trixie and I are going to stay at Lucifer’s for a few days.”

Ella brightened a little, a salacious look glittering in her dark eyes. “So, did you ask him?”

“About moving in together?” Chloe pressed her lips together and hunched forward so that she was leaning heavily on the desk.

“Yes…” she exhaled sharply at Ella’s hopeful look. “But he was asleep and didn’t hear me.”

Ella groaned, giving Chloe a disapproving shake of her head. She’d never get to be an auntie to an adorable flock half-angels at this rate. Time to take matters into her own hands. “You really think he’s going to say no?”

Glancing up at the clock, realized it was almost time for the next shift, and gestured for Ella to follow her to the lab. Soon there would be far too many people around to keep this particular conversation private.

“Yes, I mean, no, I mean, he’ll say yes,” Chloe stammered the moment Ella closed the door behind them. “But where are we going to live? Staying at Lux for a few days while the power is out is one thing, but I can’t live with Trixie above a nightclub. And, sure, he can move in with me, half his clothes are there already, but where I am going to put the piano? And…”

“Whoa,” Ella breathed, her expression open and filled with awe. “I mean, I know the big guy upstairs definitely wants you two together. But, wow, even if he didn’t…” 

She opened her arms wide and enveloped the Chloe into her embrace, pulling her close. “Dude, you two have been through hell and back. Literally. It'll work out, you know?”

Chloe made a small whimpering sound and leaned against Ella, but then abruptly pulled away when she saw Lucifer coming up to the door. “Not a word.”

Ella bobbed her head in agreement, but her eyes clearly said, “I’m so telling.”

The door cracked open just enough so that Lucifer could stick his head into the lab. “Knock knock!”

Without waiting for an answer, he barreled on through and closed the door behind him. Her tote bag was slung over one of his shoulders, and he had bags of takeout from her favorite burger joint in one hand. “Am I interrupting something naughty?” he purred slyly, setting the takeout bags on the table. “Oh, don’t stop on my account.”

Ella bulged her eyes at Chloe and jerked her head in Lucifer’s direction, clenching her jaw so that her lips pulled back from her teeth.

“Are you all right, Ms. Lopez?” Lucifer asked carefully, frowning as he touched the back of his hand to forehead. “You don’t feel feverish.”

Ella laughed, a forced, pattering cackle, and vigorously shook her head. “No, no, I’m fine. Had my flu shot and everything. Chloe on the other hand—”

Chloe glared and flexed her hands at her side. “Ella!”

Ignoring Lucifer’s baffled expression, Ella hooked her arm through Lucifer’s and pulled him around so that his back was to Chloe. “Hey, listen,” she began, motioning for him to dip his head. She leaned sideways to peak at Chloe. As she predicted, the other woman was fretting. It was rather adorable, really, the way Chloe chewed on her bottom lip and wrung hands. Ella sighed and shook her head, before standing on tiptoe to whisper directly in Lucifer’s ear.

“Whatever for?” he asked, utterly baffled, his eyes darting to Chloe. "That doesn't even seem practical..."

“Not my idea, Dude, it's science's,” Ella said with a shrug, and then spun on her heel toward Chloe. “Oh! I did find a last known address for Jacob Gladwin. Seems he was living at a place called _The Lighthouse_.”

“I've heard it. It's a homeless shelter. They haven't been open for very long,” Chloe murmured, half to herself, squinting as she bobbed her head. “Which makes sense with his history. Any luck locating his family?”

“Yeah.” Ella fixed her lips in a taut frown and sadly shook her head. “Dad is doing twenty-five to life in a federal prison. No other family.” She tipped her head toward Lucifer and flashed him a knowing grin. “Anyway, I gotta talk to the Lt, so I’ll catch you guys later.”

With that, Ella bounded from the lab, nearly slamming the door behind her.

Baffled, Lucifer flinched, blinking as he fussed with his cufflinks and turned to face Chloe, his brows knit together in concern. “Perhaps it was a bad idea to reveal the truth to her?”

“She’s always been a little nuts,” Chloe admitted and moved forward to give him a quick hug. “Did you get my umbrella?”

Lucifer hummed, low in his throat, kissing her with the barest nibble of his lips before she pulled completely away. “And a change of clothes,” he murmured, his voice husky. He wanted her, but then, he always wanted her. Even on the days, they had a murder to solve. “I also spoke to your landlady.” He frowned, but there was a warm sparkle in his eyes. “I think she was hitting on me.”

“Careful,” Chloe said with an ironic smile and slipped the tote bag off his shoulder. “She loves pretty things.”

“Oh? Perhaps, I could use this to both our advantages,” Lucifer purred, puffing out his chest a little as the wheels of his mind started turning. “If I play my cards right, we could have a hammock by spring.”

“She has a huge butterfly collection,” Chloe whispered lowly, widening her eyes slightly as she bobbed her head. “Pretty things with wings usually end up on her wall.”

“Oh, well, that’s a something,” he murmured, his nostrils flaring slightly. Then, his expression brightened, as if he suddenly remembered something.

“Ah, I spoke to Daniel on the way up. He asked, assuming it was all right with you, if the urchin could wait out the storm at mine. And, as I have plenty of room, I invited him to stay as well.”

Chloe choked a laugh, her eyes widening in disbelief. “You and Dan? Rooming together?  What was that you said about me and Maze? Boardshorts and Elephants?”

“Snow pants, Detective,” he corrected, and then frowned, looking slightly perplexed. “And when you put it that way? Alas, my reputation may never recover.”

Bobbing her head, Chloe rubbed her lips together to keep from smiling and then gave him a quick kiss.  A concerned look crossed Lucifer’s features as he touched the side of her neck with the back of his hand.

“You stayed in these wet clothes too long,” he chided, reaching into the tote bag for her change of clothes. “You’re all clammy.”

Warmth blossomed in her chest even as she faked an annoyed look. She snatched the tote bag from him, pretending not to notice the new blouse folded neatly on top of her favorite pair of jeans. Sneaking clothes into her wardrobe was one of his favorite pastimes. Last time it a beautiful white blouse made of eyelet lace with bell sleeves and embroidery on the hem mysterious appeared in her closet. Before that, a pair of strappy sandals trimmed in pink leather flowers managed to find their way beneath the foot of her bed.

Lucifer never said a word about any of it, nor did any of her original clothes ever go missing. Wearing the things he bought her was always her choice, but he was always so pleased when she did. As would this newest addition to her wardrobe; an emerald green blouse with a multitude of tiny brass buttons. Eyes sparkling, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and shoulder the tote bag. “Give me a sec to change and we’ll head out.”  


****

During the drive across town, the downpour had weakened just enough to be considered simply miserable. Chloe shivered at the raindrops splattering against her windshield and briefly wished she had taken Lucifer’s suggestion that he fly them to _The Lighthouse._ She glanced sideways at Lucifer in his usual place in the passenger’s seat and frowned. He looked so uneasy, so wary, that she couldn’t help but be concerned.  “Hey,” she coaxed, lightly touching his arm. “You okay?”

He turned in his seat to look at her and smiled that wide, painful grin that meant he was anything but fine. “This place brings back old memories, Detective.”

Squinting, Chloe leaned against her steering wheel to peer out the windshield at the small group of buildings in front of them. From the outside, The Lighthouse looked more like a library than a homeless shelter. Parking was primarily street side, but there was an immaculate covered walkway, dotted with brightly lit lanterns that led to the shelter’s huge double doors.

“How old?” Chloe remarked, grabbing her umbrella as she climbed out of the car. She scanned the building, noting the solar panels dotting the rooftops. “They may still have power.”

“Ancient,” he murmured, half to himself, and followed her out of the care. “From before I…” Before his rebellion, before he fell, before he was cast aside, before he was the devil.

Lucifer exhaled through his nostrils, feeling a warm caress against his senses. Whoever had built this place had something beyond power, they had faith. Pure, perfect faith. It was a haven. One, strangely enough, that seemed to welcome him. No power of his father's was at work here. Curious, but wary, he stepped up onto the curb and began to walk down the long covered walkway, slowing his stride just enough so that Chloe could keep up. The lanterns creaked overhead, swaying in storm breeze and casting weird shadows along the manicured grounds.

“There is something about this place, Detective,” Lucifer murmured, almost to himself, and scanned the area around him. “Do you remember the graffiti from this morning?”

“You mean the angel writing on your favorite bookstore?”

Chloe paused halfway up the short flight of stone stairs that lead to the front door and glanced at him over her shoulder. “Completely forgot.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes and loped up the steps, taking two at a time, so that he beat her to the front door. “This place has been blessed”

“By a priest or…?”

Lucifer sucked in his bottom lip, thinking, pondering and marveling at what he felt, what he knew to be true. “This wasn’t done by my father or even one of my siblings, but by a mortal who truly believes.”

Chloe reached for the doorknob, but then dropped her hand to her side. She gave him a worried look and briefly considered sending him back to the car. Not that he would actually go, she reminded herself, but the option remained. “So, whoever is inside will know who you are.”

“More what he is, actually,” corrected a warm, rich voice from somewhere behind her. “I very seldom learn their names.”

Spine straight, Chloe turned on her heel as a woman with an old blanket tossed over her head walked from the corner of the building.

The woman was tall, but willowy, with high cheekbones and perfect rosebud lips. “I’m Doctor Alexandra Ronan,” she said and fisted one hand into the blanket, tightening it around her. Her dark eyes flicked to Chloe’s hand hovering just over her weapon. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“You didn’t,” Chloe lied, relaxing her hands at her sides. She stared at the woman for a moment, sizing her up, and edged her gaze around the corner. There was a sidewalk leading to another building behind this one. “What are you doing out here?”

“I live here,” Doctor Ronan said evasively and peeled a lock of soggy dark hair from her forehead. A thoughtful look fell over her features as she looked at Chloe to Lucifer in turn. “We lost a solar panel during the storm. I went down to the basement to check on the auxiliary generator.”

Doctor Ronan walked to the foot of the stairs and smiled just enough to reveal tiny dimples. She was young to be a doctor and just a smidge less pretty than drop-dead gorgeous.

“A better question is what you and your angel friend are doing here. Or is it the angel and his human friend?”

Bobbing her head, Chloe gestured for Doctor Ronan to come up the steps. The last few years with Lucifer had taught her to treat weirdness as if it were completely normal. “I’m Detective Chloe Decker and this is my associate—”

“Lucifer. Morningstar,” Lucifer said crisply, a clear challenge in his tone. He stared hard at the doctor, trying to make her squirm.

A surprised look fell over the doctor’s features that turned fond as she chuckled and softly shook her head.  “How embarrassing. Here I thought you were just some naughty little poseur.”

“You don’t seem particularly upset that he’s the devil.”

“Should I be?” Doctor Ronan mused dismissively, sucking in a breath as her entire demeanor changed. “The devil isn’t evil, Detective. He punishes evil. But before that, he was The Lightbringer.” Her gaze fell on Lucifer, lingering for a moment. “And I suspect he still is.”

“Are you so certain of that?” Lucifer asked calmly, evenly, but with a thin edge of baiting. He was tempting Doctor Ronan into a snare.

The doctor simply smiled and looked up at the devil himself as if he were a small child. “You and I have never met, but I have heard of you and your club. Reports from the various advocacy groups within Los Angeles have led me to believe that you, Lucifer Morningstar, cast far more light than shadow.”

“You’ve checked into him,” Chloe stated, smoothing her face into neutral lines. It was her cop face. The expression she always had when she suspected a witness knew more than they claimed.

The doctor gave her a small, placid smile, but her eyes remained sharp and crafty. “Not as much as you no doubt believe. I keep tabs on the various clubs in town. It’s good to know which are safe.”

Chloe nodded. It was a half answer if she had ever heard one, but good enough for the moment. “Any idea why Jacob Gladwin would go to LUX?”

Doctor Ronan breathed an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose as she shook her head. “Probably to—” Her expression faltered, wobbling around the edges. “You found him?”

Frowning, Chloe curled her bottom lip back just enough to show her bottom row of teeth and slowly shook her head. “Found?”

The doctor swallowed hard, shaking her head. Her face smoothed into a pale, blank mask which only seemed to magnify the grief in her eyes. “I reported him missing three days ago.”

Curious, Lucifer stepped forward, standing just in front of, but not quite blocking Chloe.  He stared hard at Doctor Ronan, annoyed that she wouldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Odd that there was no mention of any such report in young Jacob’s file.”

Rolling her eyes, Chloe stepped around Lucifer so that they were standing shoulder to shoulder and nudged him discretely with her elbow. “Do you remember the name of the officer you spoke to?”

The wind gusted suddenly, pelting the trio with needles of icy rain. Shivering, the doctor gasped and pulled the sheet tighter around herself.

“Let’s this continue inside, shall we?” she suggested, climbing up the steps to open the door.

Just inside the door was a reception area with a grandmotherly woman perched behind large, cluttered desk. “Oh, hello, Doctor Alex!”

The doctor made an amused humming sound as she ushered Chloe and Lucifer into the room, and then pulled the door closed behind her. She allowed the blanket to slip from her head down her back where it eventually ended up in a soggy pile near the door.

“Millie is overly cheerful,” she deadpanned, pursing her lips as she addressed Chloe and Lucifer. “Which means, someone broke something, missed curfew, or is in jail.”

Eyes sparkling with mischief, Millie but only managed a strangled gasp at the sight of Lucifer and clutched at her heart. “Oh, my goodness.”

“Why, hello, my dear,” Lucifer purred, recognizing that look in an instant, and walked across the small room to stand at the edge of her desk. “So, who is the miscreant?”

“Lucifer,” Chloe hissed beneath her breath, yanking at his elbow. It has been ages since he used his magnetism on someone, almost to the point where she had nearly forgotten about it. “We don’t—”

“Bethany Mitchel!” Mille crowed with a gasp ending in a giggle, but then quickly sobered when she met Doctor Ronan’s eyes. “It’s probably just the storm, but she’s an hour late for her shift.”

Lucifer and Chloe traded looks, but it was Lucifer who spoke. “Wasn’t Detective Mitchel’s troublesome offspring named Bethany?”

Chloe narrowed her eyes into a squint, bobbing her head. “She’s also been trying to get into Lux and Jacob Gladwin was—” she exhaled sharply and gave Doctor Ronan a look of pure sympathy. “I’m sorry, Doctor. Jacob was found murdered this morning.”

“Which is why you’re here,” Doctor Ronan said simply, kicking the blanket beneath a nearby bench. She walked past the reception area and opened the door leading to what looked to be some sort of library. A large lantern hung from the ceiling on a thick chain, its light filling the room with a warm glow. Bookshelves lined the walls, their contents overflowing onto the floor. The doctor stepped into the room and gestured for Chloe and Lucifer to follow.   
  
“No offense to you, Detective Decker,” she explained as closed the door behind her. “But it’s been my experience that the police very seldom bring good news. At least not to places such as this.”

Chloe bobbed her head, grimacing a little, but decided to let the comment go at least for the moment. “Do you know if he had any enemies?”

Doctor Ronan sat down in a worn wingback chair and leaned back, crossing her legs at the knee. Her face crumpled, lips twisting and trembling, as she blinked back tears.

“He was a good person given a bad hand,” she said with a short bitter laugh and scrubbed at her eyes with the heels of her hand, “but no matter how many times the world would knock him down, he got right back up. So, fate, perhaps. His sole purpose in this world seemed to be to suffer. I was hoping I could help him change that.”

Chloe sat down in the chair across from Doctor Ronan and leaned forward, her expression calm and sympathetic. “Did he have any friends, people he might have hung out with?”

“He was well liked. Isn’t that what they always say after someone dies? Well-liked, wouldn’t hurt a fly? Except in Jacob’s case, it was true.” Doctor Ronan smiled, but her eyes were glassy and unseeing. “Bethany Mitchel and Jason Rameriz, others as well. But he was closest with the two of them.”

“Any chance we could speak with either of them?”

Gathering herself, Doctor Ronan nodded once and rose from her chair. “Bethany was supposed to be here this afternoon, but as Millie mention, she's a no show. Jason is currently at work, but I can give you the name and address of his employer.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Chloe said pleasantly, and then leaned sideways to whisper at Lucifer as she walked away. “All right, this is a whole bunch of crazy.”

“Indeed, Detective,” Lucifer murmured, barely moving his lips. His eyes were on the partially opened door leading to the reception area. “A mortal who not only knows of the divine but accepts it as ordinary? It's entirely improper.”

Chloe breathed out and stared up at the huge lantern hanging from the ceiling. They were everywhere, casting a warm, inviting glow, so that there was scarcely a single shadow in the entire library. “Yeah, that too.”

She straightened, plastering a smile on her face when Doctor Ronan stuck her head back into the library. “Oh, and Lucifer?  If I may call you Lucifer?” she began, her voice calm, polished and overly polite. “Do any of your siblings have purple wings with black tips?”

“Lavender and it’s closer to charcoal gray,” Lucifer answered without thinking and frowned tilting his head. “Why was Lethariel here?”

The doctor folded a piece of paper in half as she reentered the room. “I ran into her not long ago. She didn’t say, but she did give me a bit of advice.”

Lucifer rose abruptly, fists balled at his sides, and glared, jaw clenched as he ground his teeth. “What sort of advice?”

“Lucifer!” Chloe whispered urgently, tugging at his jacket sleeve. He calmed, shoving his anger just below the surface, and glared at the ceiling as the doctor handed Chloe a folded piece of paper.

“Here is the address and phone number of Jason’s employer,” Doctor Ronan said simply, but a touch of hopefulness in her tone. “Please ask him to come home as soon as he’s off.”

She, then, half turned to smile at Lucifer, still not quite meeting his gaze, and clasped her arm at the wrist. “She told me you were a good and kind person, but I should never look you directly in the eye.”

 

****

Blanket thrown once more over her head, Doctor Alexandra Ronan stood outside on the front steps and watched Detective Decker’s car pull away. She wanted to trust them, or at least him, but the respect for another’s confidence held her back. It was risky mentioning the angel, especially when she couldn’t be certain of Lucifer’s reaction. But at least she had a name for her now.

When she was certain Lucifer and Chloe were truly gone, she walked back around the building and made her way to her personal appointments. It was much like the rest of the shelter. Books and knickknacks covered nearly every surface, and there was a large lantern hanging from the ceiling, casting away all shadow.

Locking the door behind her, she kicked off her muddy shoes and dropped the soggy blanket to the floor before padding down the hall to the guest bedroom.  Almost silently, she cracked open the door, and then slipped inside when she realized the young woman within was awake.

“Hey,” Doctor Ronan whispered, moving to sit on the barest edge of the bed. She reached out and tenderly brushed a lock of silvery hair away from the woman’s battered face. “How do you feel?”

The woman swallowed around the lump in her throat, eyelashes fluttering as she prodded at her split lip with the tip of her tongue. When she tried to sit up, Doctor Ronan slipped a pillow behind her back, propping her up. She shook her head, wincing slightly.

“Better,” she gasped, her accented voice barely above a whisper. “I still don’t remember what happened.”

“That happens sometimes with traumatic experiences,” Doctor Ronan whispered kindly. Carefully, she pulled back the blankets just enough to reveal the woman's bruised and bandaged side. “How’s the pain?”

The woman winced, sucking in a breath when Doctor Ronan peeled back the bandage to reveal the still gaping wound beneath. “It hurts.”

Doctor Ronan nodded, feeling gently around the wound with her fingertips. “I know,” she murmured half to herself as she changed the woman’s bandage. “We can try the Tylenol again and I have some vodka. I’m not sure what’s safe for you.”

The young woman shivered, burrowing deeper into the pillows. “It’s okay.”

Chuckling, Doctor Ronan fished the remote out of the nightstand drawer and clicked on the television. She clicked through the channels, demonstrating for the woman, and then set it beside her on the bed. “Well, the good news is that I may have figured out your name.”

The woman frowned, pouting a little, and picked up the remote. “But I like being called Samantha.”

Doctor Ronan rose slowly, careful not to jostle the bed. “Then, I’ll keep calling you Samantha,” she hummed and tucked the blankets around the young woman. “But your real name is Lethariel.”

Lethariel gasped, becoming hopelessly entangled in the blankets as she flailed. “No, no, no,” she sobbed, tattered lavender wings unfurling behind her. “Don’t call me that! He’ll find me!”

Diving beneath the angel’s beating wings, Doctor flung her arms around the angel and pulled her close.

“Your safe here. I won’t let anyone hurt,” she soothed, rubbing circles into the small of the angel’s back. “But just so you know, your brother, Lucifer is on earth.”

The angel calmed almost imminently and sucked in a shaking breath. “He’s good,” she said softly, her voice very small. “Not like what most of you humans think.”

“I know,” Doctor Ronan said, helping Lethariel lay back down. “And I’m not like most humans.”

Smiling softly, she gently smoothed a hand down the length of a wing, watching the lavender feathers slide between her fingers. “Do you want me to ask him to come see you?”

The angel rolled her head sideways to stare out the window. It had begun to pour again, the rain splattering against the window panes. “He’s not the one that hurt me.”

“Good,” Doctor Ronan said shortly and rose from the bed. “I’d hate to have to beat him up.”

“Pinch his butt,” the angel giggled, and then sucked in a hissing breath and clutched painfully at her side. “He hates that.”

Wincing she bit her lip, accidentally breaking open the scab. A single drop of blood tumbled from the wound to cling at the point of her chin. She smiled wanly and swallowed, a pleading look in her gray eyes. “They’ll hurt him if he tries to help me.”

“Okay. We’ll hold off for now. ”

Doctor Ronan nodded and turned toward the bedroom door. “If your physiology is anything like a human’s, you’ll need to eat to regain your strength,” she said blandly, her expression blank, and then glanced briefly down at the plush white carpet. “I’ll bring you some broth.”


	4. Chapter Four

Chloe gripped her steering wheel and watched her windshield wipers glide back and forth in a losing battle against the torrent of rain pouring from the sky. Every time she believed the worst of the storm had passed, it would return with a vengeance. She glanced at Lucifer out of the corner of her eye and wondered what he was thinking. He had been utterly silent ever since they pulled away from The Lighthouse. It wasn’t like him.

“You’re quiet today,” she said lightly, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror.

Lucifer’s lips twitched as a gasp escaped his barely parted lips. “Apologizes, Detective,” he murmured almost robotically. “I was just thinking.”

Sighing and rolling her eyes skyward, she turned into the parking lot of a small shopping center. Jason Ramirez was supposed to be working at this pet store until late this afternoon.

“About?” Chloe asked, gently prodding as she pulled into the closest parking spot to the door she could find. “About the case or Doctor Ronan or—?”

_Or your sister,_ she thought but didn’t ask. _Who may be on earth sending messages to you on bookstore walls? Would she hurt you? Could she hurt you? Or is she like Azrael and simply misses you?”_

She didn’t ask, despite knowing he would answer. Instead, she simply grinned and decided to gently coax the answers from him. It was better if he told her on his own, even if doing so had often been disastrous in the past. Three years together with its associated joys and pains had taught her much about trust.

It was all well and good to be there for someone, but meaningless if the person wasn’t met at least halfway.

“Or the fact that you haven’t had morning after pancakes in over a month?” she murmured, eyes shining with humor. Teasing always seemed to chip away at the walls he tried to erect around himself.

It worked, at least a little, enough that he settled back into his seat and began to drum his fingers against the armrest. “Both.”

A sly grin tugged at his lips as stared out the windshield for a long moment. “But the glaring lack of post-coitus pancakes has been the most troubling.”

Pressing her lips together, Chloe bobbed her head and made a vaguely sympathetic sound. “Poor baby.”

“Indeed,” Lucifer breathed, eyes fixed on the storefront, “and on a weekend, to boot. It’s entirely improper.”

Lucifer looked back at Chloe when she reached out and lightly touched his sleeve. Her face was pensive and there was a worried look in her eyes. He knew without question, there was no chance she would chalk this up to his usual Luciferness.

“As you know, I’m not always reviled,” he murmured wistfully, his voice taking on an almost whimsical quality. “There are those who worship me. Silly children who have yet to learn that the greatest act of defiance, the grandest rebellion is to not worship anything at all.”

Chloe took his hand and squeezed, her thumb rubbing circles into his palm. One of the most self-centered beings in the universe despised the idea of being worshiped. Then again, she knew first hand he wasn’t nearly as selfish as he appeared.  “Does this have anything to do with what happened at _The Lighthouse_?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” he continued, and then exhaled, trying twice before he managed to speak once more. “Every answer I can fathom spins endlessly into another what-if until I am no longer even sure of the question.”

“Okay,” Chloe breathed, quickly bobbing her head. Even lost in his thoughts as he was, he was still willing to let her in, to allow her to help. Fondness blossomed in her chest, he had come so far in the last few years. “Let’s start simple. Why does _The Lighthouse_ look more like a university than a halfway house?”

Lucifer blinked, a rarity in itself, and turned just slightly in his seat. “It’s a temple, Detective.”

“A temple,” Chloe repeated slowly and swallowed, the hairs on the back of her neck. She knew the answer but needed him to say it out loud. “To who?”

Lucifer smiled just enough to shift muscles in his face. “To The Lightbringer, of course.”

Chloe fell back into her seat and covered her face with both hands.

“Okay, this?” she muttered, voice slightly muffled by her palms, and gestured with her chin. “I would’ve been perfectly fine with you just blurting out.”

Hurt flashed across his features before he looked away into the driving rain. “I had thought that after that debacle with Azrael and those wraiths over the summer that you would…”

He huffed a breathed and looked over to Chloe, staring at her until she lowered her hands. Once again, he had held his tongue at the wrong moment. “My apologies.”

Sighing softly, she cupped his chin and leaned sideways in her seat until they were nose to nose.

“I trust you, Lucifer,” she whispered, kissing him tenderly before flashing him a teasing grin. “And just so you know, we’re probably going to end up with five kids and a dog somewhere.”

Amusement flitted over his face as he tilted his head sideways, seeming to consider. “Not unless the stars align properly at the precise moment.”

“Stars?” Chloe mouthed, rather than said, and blinked hard, thoughts spinning sideways. At this point, she half expected him to inform her that the apocalypse could be avoided with a fifth of vodka and a bag of Cool Ranch Puffs. It wouldn’t surprise her, really, not with all the crazy of the last few years. “Stars?”

Lucifer jerked his head in a brief nod and mad a little sound of affirmation. “More a metaphor, really.”

He knit his brows together, his head tilting side to side, as he went over the logistics of divine conception in his mind. “It would take some doing, mostly each other, but conception is possible. Not certain we could manage five times, however, but could always adopt a pair of hellhounds to make up the difference.”

Chloe choked out a laugh, eyes widening as she shook her head. He was obviously jerking her chain, but there was a look in his eyes that suggested he was at least partly serious.

“Hellhounds,” she repeated, deciding, for the moment, to simply roll with whatever debacle he spun.   

Lucifer made a humming sound and tapped at his chin with one long finger. “Yes, well, Amenadiel is allergic to dogs, you see.”

Chloe gave him an incredulous look, poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue.  “Uh-huh.”

Sighing in mock despair, he tutted beneath his breath and sadly shook his head. “It’s no joke, Detective! Sneezing throws a wobbly on his powers, so it’s best to avoid the whole mess and get a hellhound.”

Chloe gave him a long, deadpan look, squinting just slightly. While Lucifer didn’t lie, he wasn’t above spinning tall tales for his own amusement. “Don’t all dogs go to heaven?”

“Indeed,” Lucifer chirped, a real smile cracking his features. “A bit of delightful trolling from dear old Dad. At least not in my direction.”

Giving him a sly, teasing look, she gave him a quick peck and pulled away. “Careful, mister. There’s no telling what you’re allergic to.”

“Industrial freezers,” he chirped and then huffed into a scowl. “Long story, bad memories, rather not talk about it.”

“O-kay,” Chloe more mouthed than said, her eyes bulging slightly as she bobbed her head. She stopped short, gaping at him in disbelief until she finally managed a stammer of words. “Did we just have a semi-serious discussion about kids?”

“Of course not, Detective. Don’t’ be ridiculous,” he scoffed, and then breathed a sigh that would’ve been the envy of many a martyr. “Although, if we must have a child, I’d much prefer a daughter.”

Chloe’s heart skipped a beat and she suddenly found herself unable to keep from smiling. “You want a little girl, huh?”

He twitched a bit in his seat, obviously embarrassed, and gave her a tight look. “Purely, hypothetical, of course. But if I were to have a squirming, mewling larva foisted upon me, then yes, I would much prefer a daughter.”

The rational part of her mind desperately tried to put the brakes on the notion. Lucifer had openly admitted he wasn’t one for children. More importantly, she doubted her own ability to handle a child that wasn’t entirely human. Chloe looked over at Lucifer and chewed at her bottom lip. She couldn’t even work up the courage to ask the man she dearly loved to move in with her. How could she possibly raise a little girl with blue eyes and her father’s curls?  

“She’d probably start up a cartel in her kindergarten class,” Chloe murmured fondly, happy tears sparkling in her eyes. “Or smuggle bootleg toys from Tijuana.”

Lucifer scoffed, shaking his head, but there was almost fondness in his eyes. “While, a bit of rebellion is to be expected, even encouraged, she would respect you too much to truly break the law.”

Chloe leaned sideways in her seat and kissed him, wishing they weren’t currently in the middle of a case. “Just bend it, huh?” she murmured, touching her forehead to his.

“We’d need to find a new place. Neither of us has room for a nursery and she’ll definitely want her own minibar.”

Lucifer brushed his lips against her forehead and tugged at her collar so that he could nuzzle the crook of her neck.

“I have several properties that might be suitable,” he hummed against her skin, “and if those aren’t to your liking, we could shop together for something else.”

Heart racing, she pulled away, the full gravity of what he was saying finally hitting her. She at grabbed her own hands and began twisting them into each other. “Did you just ask me to move in with you?”

Lucifer opened, then closed his mouth, frowning as he seemed to consider. He tossed her little shrug, noncommittal and irreverent, but there was something hopeful in his guarded expression. “I suppose I did.”

She made a face, gaping at him, and then slowly her lips spread into a wide, sloppy grin.

“Okay,” she breathed, bobbing her head, and then smashed her hand flat against her chest. “I mean if you want! I don’t want you to feel like you have to. Half your clothes are already at my house, so maybe it is a good idea and…”

She gave him a hopeless, helpless look. “Where am I going to put your piano?”

“In one the properties you select for us to reside, I imagine,” he said mildly and gave her a quick peck. “I’ll get my realtor on it in the morning. But for now, perhaps we should focus on the case?”

Eyes shining, Chloe pressed her lips together, her mouth still twisting in a smile, but then quickly sobered. There was a particular band-aid that needed to be ripped off sooner rather than later.

“Tell me about Lethariel,” she prodded gently, but firmly. “Is there any chance she could be involved in Jacob Gladwin’s death?”

“Angels are forbidden to kill humans, Detective,” Lucifer muttered, old anger and resentment simmering just below the surface. He took her hand and cradled it against his face, trying to calm himself. “Dad’s rules.”

Chloe rubbed the side of his face for a moment, running her thumb along his cheekbone. If the last few years had taught her anything, it was that angels were adept at bending the rules in their favor.

“All right,” she said with a nod and ran her knuckles down his cheek as she lowered her hand. “Any idea why she’d come to earth?”

“None,” Lucifer muttered, clenching his jaw as he tipped his head back to glare skyward. “As for Lethariel herself. There isn’t much to tell. A few millennia before my rebellion, my parents attempted to revive their floundering relationship by having a few more children to neglect.”

Guilt flashed across Chloe’s features, especially considering what they had just been only half seriously talking about. “Yeah. Dan and I tried the same thing.”

She ignored the surprised look on his face and reached for her umbrella. Supernatural weirdness aside, Lucifer was correct, they still had a murder to solve. She started to open the door, but then paused at glanced at Lucifer over her shoulder. “Things were so amazing when I was pregnant that we thought that maybe…”

Her shoulders slumped slightly. The memories of her marriage to Dan were mostly happy these days, but occasionally, she’d unearth one that stung.

“Dan and I didn’t want Trixie to be an only child, so it seemed to make sense. But it didn’t, not really.”

“Daniel—”

Chloe turned back around to face him, her expression very serious.

“He screwed up, but so did I,” she said, reaching up to lightly cover his mouth with her fingertips. “Neither of us wanted to meet the other halfway. It’s hard to get pregnant when you can’t stand to be in the same room together.” 

They looked at each other for a long moment until Lucifer finally nodded. Smiling faintly, Chloe gradually lowered her hand, and then pinched his cheek before pulling completely away.

“I’m not going to let you twist in the wind in hopes you’ll come to me for help, not anymore.”

Lucifer made a bemused face as if he didn’t quite understand what she meant. “Speaking of, what do you think of a hammock for my rooftop garden?”

Groaning, Chloe rolled her eyes and climbed out of the car in a huff. He quickly followed, pausing for a moment to grab her umbrella, and gave her a questioning look over the roof of the car.

She sputtered and flailed a bit, opening and closing her mouth as she twisted her hands in an almost pleading gesture.

“Don’t,” she warned empathetically, clenching her jaw as she shook her head. “We’re not going back to me in the dark and you handling things on your own.”

Lucifer made a little abortive sound, clearly taken aback, and then frowned. Unsure how to answer, he trotted around the rear of the car to stand beside her.

“So, am I to assume you’re going to continue to be all up in my business, as it were?”  

Even though she wasn’t entirely sure why was she irritated, Chloe took the umbrella from him and quietly fumed as she fumbled with its latch.

“Damn, right, I am,” she muttered as the umbrella open wide above their heads. The rain pelted the black canvas, sending tremors down her arm, and poured off the domed top. Huddling close to Lucifer hurried him across the parking lot toward the faded blue and yellow canopy hanging in front of the pet store.

The parking lot was little more than a collection of patches, black tar, and gravel linking a series of muddy potholes. Some were nearly as wide as her car and were at least ankle deep. She recognized the area from her time as a patrol officer. While not the worse neighborhood in Los Angeles, it was a far cry from the best. Its residents were only just slightly too well off to be considered truly impoverished.

“Just talk to me, Lucifer,” she said when they had finally made it the shelter of the pet store canopy. “What could your sister want with Doctor Ronan?”

Lucifer took the umbrella from her and gave it a good shake before hanging it on a hook near the door to dry.  “I can’t say for certain, Detective. To my knowledge, Lethariel has never ventured beyond the dreamscape.

“The dreamscape,” she repeated with the same tinge of incredulity she always had when faced with the supernatural. Even after all these years and the truth staring in the face, she’d never quite learned to take things at face value. “Is that another place? Like heaven or hell?”

“Yes,” he answered, his lips twitching slightly, and walked the door to peer inside the pet store, frowning. It was completely dark. Either this area lost power again, or they were closed.

“It’s ruled, for lack of a better term, by a stodgy fellow called Morpheus. He’s more the personification of dreams, really. A bit of a bounder, but…” he sighed, making a face. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated like, you lighting the stars making life as we know it possible, complicated?” she asked dryly, her lips twitching in a wry smile “Or complicated like, you have fifteen blue pocket squares, but they’re just shades of blue, so they don’t count as blue, complicated?”

Lucifer scoffed and for a moment looked mortally offended. “Just because something looks similar doesn’t mean it’s the same, Detective,” he chided, bringing a hand to rest over his heart. “I have a younger sister who resembles me a great deal, but she could never be confused for me. Nor should she be.”

Chloe goggled at him, eyes widening she stared up at him sideways. “That’s because she’s a person or an angel or the githyanki lich queen! Whatever or however it works out in your family.”

“She’s an angel, Detective,” he replied as if it that had been the entire point, and then frowned thoughtfully. “Which reminds me. We really ought to set up another game night with Ms. Lopez. As I recall, your paladin was still hanging from a cliff when we last left off.”

He sighed at Chloe's blank, unyielding expression and tapped his lips with one finger. “But to circle back to your question, Detective. It’s somewhere in the middle.”   

“Right,” Chole said distractedly, and then stood on tiptoe, craning her neck when she noticed something amiss inside the pet store.

“Somewhere between the genesis of life and your inability to accept that shades of a color are still the same color.”

Lifting a hand, she gestured for him to be quiet, and nodded to the darkened pet store. There was something or someone laying on the floor directly behind the cash registers. Hand hovering over her weapon, she tried the door, and then, finding it locked, looked pointedly at Lucifer.

A quick tug and the door opened like magic. Maybe it was magic, she still wasn’t completely sure how locks seemed to just open at Lucifer’s whim. Eyes on him, she nodded and drew her weapon before he cracked open the door just wide enough for the two of them to slip inside.

She held her weapon tight against her body with the muzzle pointing toward the ceiling and her elbows planted against her chest.

“Jason Ramirez?” she called out, edging toward the dark shape half-hidden behind the registers. “It’s the LAPD.”

In the back of the pet store, puppies awaiting adoption began to bark in their kennels. Their yipping, yowling cries echoing through the empty building. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucifer edge along the plate glass window behind her. A strange wariness overcame her as she saw him stare into the distance at something she couldn’t see.

He pushed away from the window and stalked forward, his footsteps ringing against the cold floor. The barking calmed, turning from defensive, to happy. They knew an angel was among them. Chloe edged forward, wary and mindful of her surroundings, until she came within a foot of the person laying on the floor.

He was young, barely out of his teens, with bleached hair and wide black eyes. His chapped lips were slightly parted as if frozen in mid-gasp. She dropped to a squat to search for a pulse, but his lightly tanned flesh was icy. He had been dead for hours.

“Damn,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering shut as she shook her head. Quickly, she checked the body for identification while she pulled out her phone.

“Jason Ramirez, I presume?” Lucifer asked as she retrieved the man’s wallet from his back pocket.

“Yeah,” Chloe murmured, shaking her head, and pulled out her phone. She dialed quickly and stuck her finger into one ear listening as it rang.

As Chloe spoke on the phone, Lucifer wandered deeper into the pet store. He was searching for something, although he wasn’t sure what. Confirmation, perhaps, or a reason, a least for the tingling down his spine. He rounded the corner and found himself in an aisle of bubbling aquariums. The emergency generator just enough to keep their air filters running.   

Smirking, he leaned forward to stare eyeball to eyeball with an angelfish, and then slowly looked up. Scratched into the cheap paneling just above the tanks was a single word. To the mortals of the LAPD, it would look like random graffiti, but knew it for what is was and what it said.

Suddenly, the dogs began to howl once more as flames ignited in his eyes.  He glanced over his shoulder to where Chloe still kneeled at Jason Ramirez’s body. His back muscles twitched as he forcibly stopped his wings in mid-unfurl. He wouldn’t leave Chloe in the metaphorical or literal dark as it were.

Mind made up, he strode back to Chloe and stared down at the body of Jason Ramirez. “We need to speak to Doctor Ronan again.”

“Yeah.” Chloe nodded as she stood. “I’ll have her brought in for questioning.”

She stopped short when she realized that Lucifer was still staring at the body. “What’s wrong?”

“I found more angel writing,” he said, his expression grave, and nodded over his shoulder at the fish tanks. “Over there.”

Squinting, she frowned and took a step forward, straining to see.

“Those scratches above the fish tanks?” Chloe asked, trying to focus on what she knew now were words. Yet, no matter how hard she stared, it never looked like anything more than simple vandalism to her. “What does it say?”

“Guardian.”

 

********

A sigh escaped the angel Lethariel’s lips as gradually awoke to the realization she was being watched. It wasn’t such a strange sensation. Her siblings often watched over one another, especially the younger ones such as she, but this felt different, heavier, and far more intrusive. It wasn’t watchful eyes that fell upon her, but curious ones.

Slowly, she shifted, eyes fluttering open as she pretended that she was just barely waking. Pain lanced through her side, aching and raw. The wound in her chest wasn’t healing as quickly as it should. Biting her lip against the pain, she forced herself to sit up and then clutched herself around the middle as spots formed in her vision.

She blinked hard, trying to focus, and met the startled green eyes of a young girl.

“Be not afraid,” Lethariel gasped, trying to sound both commanding and serene as Amenadiel had taught her. Instead, she only managed to cough, choking on the bile at the back of her throat, and fell back among the pillows. “I…”

The girl dropped her phone on the floor and scurried to the side of the bed to peer down at the angel. “Doctor Alex will be back soon,” she whispered, hurriedly and visibly shaking. “She went to talk to the police and—”

“You’re the one who found me,” Lethariel murmured, rolling her head sideways to get a better look at the girl. “You and your friends.”

“Yeah,” the girl said numbly, eyes bulging just slightly. “Jacob said we should take you to Doctor Alex. She’s not a doctor doctor, but she’d know what to do. She always does.”

The angel sucked in a wheezing breath and seemed to sink deeper into the mattress. Outside the rain slowed to a slow mournful patter as thunder rumbled overhead. “She seems very kind.”

“Yeah,” the girl grumbled beneath her breath. She shrugged and breathed out a sigh, but there something accusatory in her stare. “You’d never guess she worships the devil.”

“The good and the innocent have nothing to fear from my brother,” Lethariel croaked, her voice that was barely a whisper. “He is—”

“A fairytale, at least that’s what my dad told me.”

The girl shrugged and bent down to pick up her phone. She snapped a quick selfie with Lethariel, and then plopped down on the bed. “Angels, too.”

Lethariel winced just slightly as she was jostled on the bed. Licking at the scab on her bottom lip, she began to rub absentmindedly at her shoulder. Every inch of her hurt or ached with a dull, persistent throbbing. All she wanted to do was sleep and wander formlessly in the dreamscape.

“Your words are strange,” she murmured with a soft yawn and rubbed her cheek against the pillow, blinking as her eyes grew heavy. “What is your name, mortal?”

“Bethany,” the girl squeaked out, a strange feeling coming over her. Saying her name out loud somehow made this strange situation even stranger or perhaps less strange, and thus more real. She wasn’t quite sure.

“Bethany Mitchel, but I’m thinking about taking my mom’s maiden name when I turn eighteen. If I do, I’ll be Bethany Asher—"

Bethany clamped her mouth shut when Lethariel let out a pained breath and burrowed her face deep into the pillow. The angel had fallen back asleep or passed out again. Neither was surprising considering how badly hurt she was.

“I know you didn’t mean for anything to happen,” Bethany whispered to the sleeping angel and then turned her head to stare hard at the closet door. She swallowed hard, her eyes widening with fear. There was something within.

Careful not to jostle the bed, Bethany got up and walked to the closet. Slowly, she opened the door, mindful of the creaking hinge, and groped around the darkened closet until she found an impossibly soft velvet cloak. It was peacock blue with violet silk lining. The angel had been wearing it when they found her.

Blindly, her hand smoothed upward, feeling the soft, fine fabric beneath her fingertips, until she reached the broach resting on the collar. It was carved from something organic, but too flexible to be bone and accented with pure silver. In the center was a deep black stone nearly the size of her thumbnail.

It was ancient and beautiful, likely full of meaning and sentiment, and Bethany knew without question it had to be hers. Checking one last time to make certain the angel was still asleep, she removed the broach from the cloak and slipped it into her pocket. Then, she quietly closed closet and backed out the bedroom, closing the door behind her.


	5. Chapter Five

Late Sunday evening, or more accurately, very early Monday morning, Chloe rolled over and pressed her face between Lucifer’s shoulder blades. They had dropped by her apartment to pick up a few things for Trixie and decided to take advantage of the last bit privacy they were likely to have before the storm ended. That was several hours ago.

She smiled against his skin and pressed a light kiss to his spine. He had been amazing as always, gentle, yet demanding, drawing out her climax until it rolled and wrapped around his own. Then, he kissed her as if she were the most perfect, precious thing in the universe and tucked her into the hollow of his chest.

She nuzzled the place where his wings lay dormant beneath the flesh of his back and flicked her tongue over a shoulder blade. Slowly, she began to trace the muscles of his back with her pinky finger until she found the pair that powered his wings. They twitched beneath her fingertips, quivering as if trying to move closer to her.

Smiling faintly, she wrapped an arm around his middle and cuddled against his back. She laid her chin on his shoulder so that they lay cheek to cheek.

“What are you doing back there?” Lucifer murmured sleepily and turned his head just enough to give her a quick kiss.

Chloe slid her palm up his belly, her thumb hitching on his navel, to tickle at his ribs. “Guess,” she murmured, hugging him tightly, and then scooted over so that he could roll over onto his back.

Yawning wide, he blinked up at the ceiling and then flung an arm over his eyes. “What time is it?”

“Almost four,” she said on the tail end of a yawn. “Dan called a while ago to check on us. Oh, and he and Trix found your man cave.”

Lucifer lifted his arm just enough to look at her and frowned, clearly offended. “The devil does not have a man cave.”

“Fine, they found your devil grotto with your four gaming systems and mini-fridge,” Chloe giggled and ignored his glower to give him another quick kiss.

“Dan also mentioned that a rudicite breastplate would be better for your spellblade than the dragonfly robe.”

Lucifer scoffed, staring at her as if she had grown a second head. “Only if I never wish to parse DPS again.”

Chloe shook her head, trying her best not laugh. It was almost endearing how many interests Lucifer and Dan shared. Almost as endearing as their continued insistence that they didn’t like each other when they were nearly as close as brothers. Suddenly remembering a promise, she smacked him hard on the arm. She fought back a smirk as he yelped and scurried to the far side of the bed.

Pressing her lips together, she narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head in disapproval. “That was for ganking Dan at the…” she made a face, rolling her eyes skyward as if trying to remember. “Tower of Whispers.”

“Citadel of Whispers,” Lucifer corrected, grumpily rubbing his arm. “And it’s his own fault for wearing outdated gear and standing around like a newb.”

Chloe shook her head, pressing her lips together as a smile tugged at her cheeks. “He also wanted to know if you’re still on for Thursday.”

Still rubbing his arm, Lucifer gave her a dubious look and scooted back over to her side of the bed. He reached out and ran a fingertip down the length of her nose to her mouth and traced her bottom lip with his thumb. “I’d have to ask old the ball and chain.”

“Dork—”

He kissed her, his mouth warm and full on hers, and slipped his hand into her hair. Smilin, she breathed out a little puff of air and tipped her head forward so that their foreheads touched.  “You can have your bro-date with Dan.”

Making a humming sound low in his throat, he gave her a quick peck. “I’d rather have a date with you.”

“Oh, I don’t know that would depend on where you want to go,” she breathed coyly, tilting her head back as he nibbled at her throat. “We’ve been banned from The Pudding Barn.”

Lucifer tugged the sheet just enough to expose the tops of her breasts and pressed an open mouth kiss over her heart. “Just the ones in Malibu,” he murmured against her flesh and looked up at her through his long lashes. “You were incorrigible, as I recall.”

“It was your fault,” Chloe giggled a happy, girlish sound, and squirmed as Lucifer scruff tickled over her flesh. She settled back among the pillows and half pulled him back on top of her. Her hips shifted just enough so that he could rest between her thighs.

“Oh, indeed?” he purred, kissing the end of her nose. He propped himself up on one elbow and allowed his free hand to roam down her side. “I seem to recall being on my best behavior that day.”

Chloe smiled and tipped her head back, smoothing her hand up his back as he began to nibble at the base of her jaw. “Your fault for wearing those jeans,” she murmured, her voice thick and husky, and licked her lips. “And that sweater.”

His breath ghosted over her skin as he ran the tip of his tongue down the length of her collarbone. “Your offspring picked it out.”

“My offspring,” she murmured, moaning softly as he slowly began to enter her, “has excellent taste.”

She cupped the back of his head with one hand, shifting her head so he could burrow his face into the hollow of her throat, and tangled her legs with his.

He moved slowly against her, his thrusts deep, but gentle, and sucked lightly at the tender flesh of her throat. Breath hitching in her throat, Chloe eye’s fluttered shut as she nudged at him with her nose until he kissed her.

His lips were warm and full against hers. His tongue slipped between her slightly parted lips to graze the hard ridges at the roof of her mouth. “Chloe,” he gasped as he sprinkled delicate kisses along her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose.

Feeling warm and floaty, but wanting more, she wrapped her legs into his waist and arched her back, meeting him with a roll of her hips. She nipped at his bottom lip as she slipped a hand between their bodies, touching herself and him with ever insistent strokes of her fingertips.

She moaned into his mouth as he withdrew, and then sank deep inside her. He planted his arms on either side of her head, his elbows grazing her shoulders, and captured her mouth with his.

He moved slowly, deep and long, kissing every inch of her flesh as her hands roamed his body. Whimpering low in her throat, Chloe threw back her head and pushed her hips up to meet him.

He kissed the underside of her chin, flicking his tongue over her pulse point, slid a hand down to cup her breast. His free hand slid beneath her, hooking around her middle, and rolled until they both sitting up on the bed.

Kissing him fully on the mouth, she settled back into his lap, her knees straddling his hips, and wound her arms around his neck. She hugged him to her breasts, feeling his lips move against her skin as she slowly sank down on him.

Chloe’s eyes fluttered shut as his tongue flicked over her nipples, and she exhaled a shuddering breath as her hips began to rock in a slow, gliding rhythm. She gasped, moaning, as Lucifer began to suckle at her nipple.

He grasped at her hips, pushing her closer to him, and licked a long line between her breasts. A sigh escaped his lips as his wings unfurled behind him and wrapped around the detective, her pulling impossibly close. “Blasted things,” he muttered and met Chloe’s pleasure hazed eyes.

She managed a low, throaty chuckle and wiggled so that her back rubbed against his feathers. “I think they like me.”

“Oh, indeed,” he purred and pushed her back gently so that she was once more laying against the pillows. “But I called dibs.”

Lucifer climbed over her, feathers brushing against her flesh as he moved, and settled once more between her thighs. He kissed her neck, grazing her skin with his teeth, and thrust deep inside her. His wings trembled behind him, shivering as he lost himself in the perfect fit of their bodies.

Beneath him, Chloe moaned, thrashing and bucking against him as her movements grew impatient. She was close, so close, the wings seeming to only heighten her pleasure. He sped his movements, harder, faster, thrusting as deep as he could while his mouth suckled and nipped at the tender flesh of breasts.

Huffing a small breath, he closed his eyes and simply allow instinct to take over. Chloe gasped and trembled beneath him, pressing desperate, half-kisses over his face and shoulders. Suddenly, she stiffened and stilled, and then jerked a low shuddering moan spilled from her lips.

She tightened around him, her body rippling around him as he throbbed heavy and thick inside her. Wet tendrils of hair clung to her cheeks as kissed him lightly and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him into the cradle of her body.

Lucifer moaned low in his throat as he pressed himself tightly against her. He jerked suddenly, throwing back his head, as he spasmed and spilled deep within her.

Chloe squeezed him slightly, mingling their juices around him, and sending shocks of pleasure to his limbs. She kissed the top of his head, finger-combing his curls, and uttered a blissful sigh as the ebbs of her own orgasm wound around her. Lucifer rolled over onto his side and draped a wing over the length of her body. He kissed her shoulder before laying his head on her chest and looped an arm around her middle.

Chloe kissed his forehead and smiled when he breathed a contented sigh. His fingers ticked up and down her ribs and then smoothed down her waist to rest just below her navel. He kissed her softly, but long and lingering, and nuzzled her nose with his.

“You should get some rest,” he whispered, peppering kisses along the bridge of her nose. “We’re supposed to meet Doctor Ronan in a few hours.”

Making a small sound, Chloe nodded and kissed him soundly. His lips moved delicately against hers as her hand wandered over the taut muscles of his chest to the hollow of his hip.

She pulled back slightly to look him, her breath still feathering his face. There was something bothering him that went beyond the weirdness surrounding their current case. She’d figure it out eventually, likely around the same he did. Until then, she’d keep him talking and gently coax him out from the trap of his own thoughts. “Did you find your shirt?”

Sighing, Lucifer shook his head and gave her smile that made the breath catch in her throat. “No, but I did find one of my gloves—”

She kissed him, her tongue flicking over his lips. He tasted like the storm churning above the city. Relentless and unyielding, the storm sowed chaos while bringing much needed rain. Gently, she pushed Lucifer onto his back and slid her leg over his waist.

She scooted over until she was on top of him and planted her palms on his chest. His wings twitched, brushing her knees, as he smiled softly and gazed at her with depthless dark eyes. Chloe leaned forward, her breasts grazing his chest, to nuzzle at his collarbone bone. He smelled like the storm, but beneath it was the warm and unmistakable scent of him.

There was something important here, a realization her mind wasn’t quite grasping. Instead, it focused on Lucifer’s long lashes and wandered back to an earlier conversation.

“So, just so I’m not imagining things,” she murmured and leaned down to press an open mouth kiss on his breastbone. “We did decide to move in together, right?”

Lucifer nodded, making a low, humming sound as he slid his palms up her thighs. “I believe we also contemplated creating our own squirming larva.”

Chloe smiled, just slightly, but it was real and breathtaking, and he felt to the deepest, darkest parts of him. “Baby.”

“With my curls and your blue eyes,” he murmured and reached up to brush his thumb over her cheek. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were wide and filled with an unmistakable wonder.

“I don't fully understand why, but to create something with you would be...”

She smiled just slightly, but it was real and breathtaking, and he felt a quivering to the deepest, darkest parts of him. Then, she turned her head and caught his thumb between her teeth, sucking gently, and sent blood rushing far lower.

“Or, we could always just adopt those hellhounds,” she murmured, giving him an out, and rolled her tongue over his knuckle. Part of her wondered if she was truly considering having children with Lucifer. The rest of her already knew the answer. “If it happens, it happens.”.

Lucifer squirmed a little on the bed. His nearly full erection brushed against her backside, sending shocks to the tips of his toes. Gently, he pulled his thumb away and slipped an arm around her waist. He rolled with her so that she was on her back and he hovered above her.

“The hellhounds are non-negotiable,” he murmured, kissing her lightly. “They’ll need names and house with a yard.”

“hm, Mittens,” Chloe murmured, arching her back when Lucifer began to stroke her left breast with slow, feathery touches. Her mouth watered even as her breath came out in little choked pants. The part of her that was wondering was now in complete agreement with the part that knew. “and Boots.”

“Those names are absurd,” Lucifer teased, but his voice was tender, and his eyes were filled with something akin to awe. Trembling, he nuzzled at her throat, breathing in her scent, and then tentatively met her gaze. “Chloe.”

Eyes hazy, she nodded slowly and pulled him to her, hands fisting into his wings.

Outside, the wind began to howl as the storm swelled, sending a torrent rain and hail upon the city below. Huge forks of lightning arched across the sky, chaining into a web of light. It flickered and was gone in an instant, replaced with a deafening peal of thunder.

As the thunder boomed, seeming to shake the entire world, whole city blocks tumbled into darkness as the power grid briefly failed. Two solitary lights glowed in the darkness, like stars in the void. One was LUX, the club that never truly slept, and the other was _The Lighthouse._ Then, as subtle as blinking, the power flickered back on.  

********

 

It was mid-morning when Doctor Alexandra Ronan finally arrived at the police station. She apologized for the delay and explained that she had a prior engagement with a client’s probation officer that ran longer than expected. All Lucifer heard, however, was the buzz her presence made across his senses.

He watched her from the far corner of the interrogation room, eyes boring into her profile. Doctor Ronan was powerful, perhaps even more so than she realized. The real question, however, was how?

“Thank you for your patience, Doctor Ronan,” Chloe stated gently and gave the other woman an encouraging nod. “I just have a few questions.”

Doctor Ronan smiled faintly and took a sip of the tea she specifically requested. She sat down the paper cup and turned it until the label outward before settling back into her chair.

“Of course, Detective Decker,” she replied, unfailingly polite and calm. “Jacob and Jason were dear friends. I’ll do whatever it takes—”

She stopped short and snorted, glancing towards the window as she clenched her jaw.

“How cliché,” the doctor murmured, her eyes following a ray of sunlight as it stretched towards the toe of one of Lucifer’s Italian loafers. The storm that had raged across much of the Los Angeles area abruptly died just as the sun began to rise. Power had already returned to most of the city, allowing local schools and businesses to reopen.

Life was returning to normal. Whatever that was. 

Chloe smiled, warm, but professional, and shuffled the crime scene folders back into their file folder before picking up her pen. Something tingled on the edges of her senses, a subtle buzzing that kept her alert and wary. Doctor Ronan was more than she seemed.

She shot Lucifer a look and jerked her head toward the seat next to her. Breathing a sigh, he pushed away from the wall and took a full step forward before pausing the fuss with his cufflinks.

Annoyance quickly turned to surprise and then finally glee when Doctor Ronan, always so careful to avoid his gaze, looked him directly in the eyes.

“Oh,” she gasped, an inarticulate gurgling at the back of her throat. Her pupils spiraled as her jaw fell slack and her mind opened wide.

“Oh, indeed,” Lucifer very nearly purred as a rictus grin tugged painfully at his cheeks. Holding Doctor Ronan’s gaze, he pulled out a chair and gracefully sat down next to Chloe. “So, I wonder what is it that you—

Blinking hard, the doctor sucked in a breath tore her eyes away from his. An ironic smile formed on her lips as she slowly shook her head and placed a hand on her chest where her heart beat furiously beneath her breast. “Remind me to never do that again.”

Lucifer raised his brows to his hairline and frowned when she refused to meet his gaze. “You’re a complicated one.”

“Complicated?” the doctor repeated, the hum in her voice turning into a chuckle. “I suppose, though your brother considered me to be more a pain in the ass.”

The pen Chloe was holding fell to the table was a clatter and then rolled off onto the floor. Flashing an apologetic smile, she ducked beneath the table and frowned at Doctor Ronan red-soled heels. 

She filled the information away for later, along with the growing pile of clues that indicated the motive behind the murders of Jacob Gladwin and Jason Ramirez was rooted firmly in the supernatural.

“Which brother?” she asked when she at last retrieved her pen and flipped opened her notebook. “When did you last see him?”

“About ten years ago,” Doctor Ronan said evenly, with a slight smile in her voice, “and as I mentioned before, I very seldom learn their names.”

She flicked her gaze toward Lucifer and blinked twice, chewing at her bottom lip. “He was blonde, handsome with a beard, and offered to share his pot with me.”

“Baraquiel,” Lucifer answered with utmost certainty and drummed his fingers against the table. “He is one of my more tolerable siblings. Younger than I, but not by much.”

“So, you just randomly run into angels,” Chloe asked suddenly, giving Lucifer a side eye. She was rapidly losing control of the interview and it was time to steer back on course. “Like Lethariel.”

“Yes.” The doctor smile didn’t quite reach her eyes and she made a small huffing sound as she tapped her knuckle against her bottom row of teeth. “This is where I admit to being less than honest with you.”

Chloe pressed her lips together and she reached out without looking to touch Lucifer arm. She could already feel the tension running through him. “How so?”

Doctor Ronan paused to take a sip from her tea, and then very deliberately sat the paper cup back on the table. “About a week before Jacob disappeared, he, Bethany, and Jason brought a young woman to _The Lighthouse_.”

“Who was the woman?” Chloe asked carefully, her brows knitting together. “And why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I don’t betray confidences lightly, Detective Decker, not even to The Lightbringer,” the doctor replied coldly, ignoring the way Chloe's eyes narrowed, and then took a deep breath. “As for the young woman, until yesterday, I only knew she was an angel.”

“Lethariel,” Lucifer said suddenly, staring hard at Doctor Ronan as he leaned forward in his chair. “What did she want?”

The doctor didn’t look at Lucifer so much as roll her head slowly in his direction. Her eyes widened as she met his, her pupils spiraling to pinpricks. She reached into her blazer and pulled out a tattered lavender feather. “Nothing from me, specifically. She had been badly beaten, possibly even tortured. I truly believed she was dead when they first brought her to me.”  

Lucifer reached out gingerly, fingertips just grazing the feather, and then jerked away as if burned. Flames danced briefly in his eyes, but then flickered out as he breathed out through his nostrils. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could Doctor Ronan lifted a hand and shook her head.

“She doesn’t remember who attacked her or why,” Doctor Ronan explained, her voice calm, but guarded and not entirely happy. “She couldn’t even remember her name until—”

“That’s why you asked me about her wings,” Lucifer snapped, fury glowing like a halo around him, but slowly faded into embers as he came to a realization. “You were trying to help her.”

“Yes,” Doctor Ronan admitted with a grimace, “I’m not a medical doctor, but I’ve done my best to tend her wounds and tried to keep her comfortable. I know how fast angels heal, so I was hoping she would recover on her own.”

“Did she?” Lucifer demanded, his expression guarded. Lethariel was young and innocent, little more than a child. He would see the one who harmed her punished beyond imagining. “And where is she now?”

“Still at _The Lighthouse_ ,” Doctor Ronan answered and squeezed her eyes shut as she reached out to the lavender feather all but forgotten on the table. “I need your help.”


End file.
